1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of stringed instrument manufacturing, and more particularly, to the filing of frets on stringed instruments.
2. Description of the Related Art
Fretted stringed instrument manufacturing has evolved through the centuries from a hand made process, where the craftsman fabricated the instrument one at a time from beginning to end. It was a hand operation and the filing of the frets was an integral part of the hand fabrication. As used in this specification and the appended claims, the term “fret” means narrow metal bars embedded along the neck of stringed instruments. A fretted stringed instrument could include instruments such as guitars, banjos, and kimbundus, as well as other stringed instruments which also utilize a fretted neck.
The American guitar and instrument manufacturing industry still is inhabited by hundreds of small shops, but the demand for new models and specialty guitars has far outpaced the small manufacturer's ability to satisfy buyers needs. Larger manufacturing companies have come to dominate the market and produce large quantities of instruments on assembly line facilities, incorporating automated wood working machinery, metal fabrication, plating facilities and production painting with waterfall operations. However, luthiers (the people who makes or repairs stringed instruments) are still required to do the hand filing and leveling of the frets after they have been inserted into the wood neck.
Fret filing is a process where metal frets are filed after being installed into the neck of the instrument. The intent of this process is to precisely level all frets in relation to the adjoining frets. Visualize the process as a road grader on a gravel road, which is a long vehicle with a leveling tool in the middle. Filing is done with strokes running the length of the neck, while the file itself is held across the frets, parallel to the neck. In this manner, the high spots and the low spots of the multiple frets are smoothed out to a perfectly level plane, relative to one another. This is necessary so the instrument will play most efficiently and stay in good harmonic tune. When the musician fingers a string on different frets, by pressing the string against the fret, it produces desired notes.
The fret filing is one of the responsibilities of the Luthier, even on a large scale production line. Being hand operation, it is time consuming; however a large portion of that time is used masking the wood or other material of the neck between each of the frets. This operation alone takes twenty to thirty minutes as it requires several layers of masking tape or heavy paper.
Unlike masking for the spray painting process, fret masking requires protection from the damage which can be caused by the tools used in the filing process abrading against the wood or other neck material, causing scoring and other damage. At this point in the manufacturing process, a great deal of labor and high quality materials has been invested in the neck. Damage while filing would result in an unusable neck, thus a disruption to the production process and loss of money.
Prior to filing of the frets, the prior masking processes have always been a time consuming affair. It has required hand masking of the wood neck between each of the frets with several layers of masking tape. Protection of the wood during the filing process is paramount to quality neck fabrication. The existing process involves layering of masking tape with precision positioning of a strip of tape against each fret, on each side. That alone amounts to forty or more different applications of tape layered between the frets, so the wood is covered to protect from the filing process. This process of hand taping has been used for years, but is a high inefficient and time consuming process.
In attempts to shorten the masking process, a thin metal covering was formed to fit the guitar neck and then slots were filed in register with the frets. Though, in theory, this sounded like a solution, it failed as it was extremely hard to achieve register with frets to obtain the required close fit. Further, the metal edges were sharp and would cut and scratch the wood neck during the filing operation and would cut the Luthier's fingers.
Accordingly, there has been a long-felt need in the art for a device and method to protect the neck of a stringed instrument during the fret filing process. This device should be easy to use, taking a minimal amount of time to implement during the manufacturing process. The device should be easy to remove after the fret filing process. This device should also effectively protect every portion of the front face of the neck and the sides of the frets themselves, and optionally the sides of the neck.